Onna
by green3040
Summary: Orihime and her friends are yet again asked to return to Hueco Mundo to assist the soul society in creating a base within Los Noches now that most of the arrancars have fled. There they discover a child with the same name and looks as the late 4th espada.
1. Prologue

**Onna**

**Prologue**

On the roof of Los Noches' dome a small figure lay motionless in the sand. It was a child, and baring the unmistakable mask and hole of a hollow, he was obviously an arrancar.

I soft moan made its way a crossed the boys lips. If it wasn't enough to have every pore in his body sending fire to his nerve ends, his head and mind ached from the thoughts and images that danced behind his eyelids. It was as if every ounce of information someone could know in one or two lifetime was flooding his mind all at once. At the same time, he could both remember absolutely everything and nothing at all. He raked his mind for the reason why he was in his current state, but failed to find it.

He tried to sit upright, but his limps felt like lead, and the cracked helmet decorating his scalp made it feel ten-times heavier then it should be. His eyes rolled back in his head in exhaustion, but still his mind would not let him be.

Horned beasts planted themselves a crossed his closed eyes along with different images of a human girl with brightly colored hair. The child let out a pitiful sob. He couldn't recall who he was, or why he felt so awful, but he could remember what her name was…

No… Not her name… It was what he'd called her...

Small tears welled at the edges of his scrunched emerald eyes. "..na.." he tried to get out. The tears began to brim over and fall in almost the same tracks as the aqua ones that marred his pale cheeks. Again, he attempted to call out to the girl that was filling his weary mind. The cry came out in a choked whimper,

"Onna…"

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Wow, this is unbeilivable short, ah well, it's too short to be called a chapter... so Imma call it a prologue even if FF says its's a chapter. Its gonna be one of my first actual Ulquihime fanfics thats more then just a oneshot thing. This takes place directly after Ichigo and the others leave Hueco mundo to fight Aizen in Karakura town

Ok, since Nel turned inot a little kid after she was injured, I got to thinking... What if Ulquiorra came back as a kid? I mean, come on, you can't deny that Ulquiorra's mini-me would be ADORABLE! Plus adding UlquiHime into the mix would only make the plot line better ;3

I decided to rate it K+ for some of the later on chapters. Don't want the kiddies to see words like Damn and Bastard now would we ^3^

R & R Please :) :) :)


	2. Chapter 1

Onna

Chapter 1

Orihime yawned as she reached over to the night stand where her ringing phone lay. The clock sitting next to it read 4:32 am. "He-Hello…?" She answered groggily. "Um... Hi, Orihime, it's Ichigo. Look, I'm sorry for waking you up so early, but Rukia just got here saying somethin' about the Soul Society needing us for something." Orihime sat up and stretched, "What do mean 'us'? Like, Rukia, you and I 'us' or Renji, Uryu, Rukia, Chad, you, and me kind of 'us'?" There was some shuffling on the other line before Ichigo replied, "All of us: Renji, Rukia, Chad, Uryu, you, and me."

"Ichigo give me the damn phone, Orihime's probably half from you're babbling!" Some more shuffling occurred along with two voices shouting at each other. Finally Rukia came on, "Sorry about that, Ichigo was just being an ass." Suddenly her tone became more serious, "Orihime, my captain and a few others have asked us to help out the members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squad that are trying to secure a base for the Soul Society in Hueco Mundo." Orihime's breathe hitched a moment at the mention of the hollow realm, "Why us?" She gasped and shook her head, "That sounded bad- I'm not trying to be rude, it's just… isn't there lots of other soul reapers to help them. I mean… we just got back from there…."

Rukia sighed into the receiver. "I know what you mean and even I was a little taken aback when I heard they wanted all of us to return there when it's only been four or five weeks since we defeated Aizen. I was told they wanted us because we kind of have an idea of the structure of Los Noches." Ichigo said something in the background that sounded like "We do?" causing Rukia to shout back "Shut up!" before returning to their conversation, "Well, Ichigo and I have already called Chad about this, Renji already knows, and we still need to contact Uryu about meeting up at Kisuke's place to explain in more detail what's going on." Orihime pulled the covers off of her and stood up, "So, we're all meeting up at Mr. Urahara's to talk more about this, like… Now?" Some more shuffling. "Yes, as soon as possible." She confirmed. Orihime yawned again as she said her goodbye's before pressing the red 'Off' button on her cell.

After getting a quick shower, dressing, and brushing her hair and teeth, Orihime felt much more energized. Rukia had told her to meet as soon as she could, so she decided to head out, skipping breakfast. About two or so blocks from the shopkeeper's residence, someone shouted to her, "Hey, Orihime!" She turned to see the dark haired Quincy waving to her. "Good morning Uryu!" She said. "Good morning, Orihime. Mind if I walk with you to Urahara's?" He replied, jogging up next to her. "No, I'd like the company." She said cheerfully.

When they reached the small shop Yoruichi, in her cat form, was there to meet them. "Good morning, Orihime, Uryu." She said. They nodded their greetings as the entered. Chad, Renji, Ichigo and Rukia were already sitting at the small table along with Kisuke Urahara. "Morning kids!" Urahara said happily, "Looks like everyone's here, so let's get on with it." Renji Yawned. Everyone at the table nodded in agreement. Rukia took a deep breath before she began…

"After everything in Hueco Mundo, and Aizen and his cronies were defeated, several of the captains agreed that the information in Los Noches would be of some value. Captain Unohana and Captain Kurotsuchi volunteered to take the lead in the mission for the medical equipment and library, along with the scientific info could be of great use to the Soul Society. Since we were to be there for a measurable period of time just for that mission, we've decided to create a base in Los Noches. Even though I'd highly disagree, they want us to go there and assist them because we have a better Idea of the size and lay out of Los Noches."

For a long while, everyone sat in silence, letting the information Rukia had just explained sink in. Uryu was the first to speak, "So, then when are we leaving? I mean, since summer break is next week, would we be leaving on the first day of summer? And if so, would we be out the whole summer, or what?" More silence. "You're correct; we'll be leaving the first day of the break but… Um… well… I haven't been given the exact date we'll be returning. I'm assuming that's because we have no idea how long it'll take to accomplish the task of securing a base so…" Rukia trailed off. It was Renji's turn to talk, "…So, we'll be there as long as they need us, then I guess they'll send us back when we're done." The silence that insisted on creeping its way into their conversation took over again.

Orihime had spent who now how many days, weeks, maybe months in that horrid dimension… But if her friends needed her, then she would go.

The week to follow was, to put it bluntly, hectic. Orihime was told to pack whatever things she thought she might need while there. She was grateful that she wouldn't need to bring all of her dressers contents for Rukia had informed her that they would send people back and forth between the Soul Society and Los Noches to retrieve any items that might become needed during their stay along with sending over laundry to be washed. Once she had packed, unpacked, and repacked the small duffle bag she was going to be taking, she had to deal with her friends at school. Orihime made sure to casually mention that she would be visiting relatives out of town during summer break several different times to her classmates. Everyone took her fib as truth and thought nothing more of it, everyone except for Tatsuki.

Now that Tatsuki knew about Ichigo's (and the rest of the gang's) powers, there was nothing to hide. Though when Orihime told her about returning to Hueco Mundo, "less then pleased" didn't quite describe her reaction. The raven haired girl toppled four desks, tossing one out an open window, and punched Ichigo in the face. When the orange haired boy asked why she'd given him a black eye, she told him it was because she didn't feel right hitting Chad or Uryu.

Tatsuki eventually calmed down (or at the very least stopped destroying school property) long enough for Orihime and Rukia to explain the entire situation. After sitting in silence for a while, she had to give in and allow her friend to do what the Soul Society had asked of her.

As Orihime sat in her empty apartment, she felt a strange sense of nostalgia. Everyone was to depart the next morning, and she couldn't seem to get any sleep. She sat at her kitchen table, sipping a class of water, trying to make herself tired. Looking around her home one last time before returning to her bed, she realized why she felt such a strange sense of deja vu. The feeling in her gut was the same feeling that had soaked into her the night she left to Hueco Mundo the first time. Orihime pulled the covers over her head and clamped her eyes shut, pushing the thoughts away.

Orihime and the others were to meet up, again, at Kisuke Urahara's shop. He was going to open a garganta to the other realm. Once they all made their way down to his training ground of a basement, he began to open the passage. The first time he'd been asked to open a one, it'd took him almost two and a half months, now it took him less then twenty minutes. "I'm getting pretty good at this if, I don't say myself." He chuckled, standing back to look at his handy work.

Once given the all clear, the group of friends began their way through to Hueco Mundo.

The bright haired girl knew where they had reached their destination the moment she breathed in the dry air. Instead of just being within Hueco Mundo, Urahara had managed to put them directly _in _Los Noches. Orihime and her friends we standing in the middle of the dome, the dull artificial sky hanging above them. "Welcome." The group turned to find Captain Unohana and her lieutenant coming up from behind to greet them. She gave a reassuring smile to them, "Captain Kurotsuchi and I are vary grateful that you are able to assist us-"

"Yo, Strawberry!" A gruff voice interrupted. Everyone in the group gaped at the man walking up behind the female captain. All of them recognized the vibrant blue hair and wicked grin.

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

The first thing that came to the stunned groups mind was "How?" Ichigo had defeated him in battle, and Nnoitra had delivered the final blow. The Espada was dead, and yet he was walking towards them now.

Orihime was shocked, and a bit frightened, of the appearance of the Ex-Espada, but she wasn't staring at him like the others. Her gaze fell elsewhere. A few strides behind Grimmjow was another person. His hand was stuck in his pocket, and he wore the same white clothing as the arrancar's'. His size was small, and his features we young looking. _'A little…boy…?' _She thought. He had a mask on the side of his dark head, and… Her heart seemed to stop completely for a moment before it began again. Blue-green streaks ran from the bottom of his emerald eyes to the end of his face.

She knew of only one person that shared those markings.

"G-Grimmjow! But- I- You- Huh?" Ichigo stammered, thrusting a finger out toward him. The blue haired man's grin grew wider, "Talk much, soul reaper?" Unohana held up a hand, silencing them, "As you can see, there is much to explain. If you would follow me I promise it will all soon make since."

Even as they were lead inside one of the porcelain buildings, Orihime's thoughts when back to the child trailing them as they walked. She glanced back at him, finding his eyes on her. They held each others gaze for what felt like an eternity before she broke away, turning to face the front again. The thought rang in her head,

'_Why does that __little boy looks so much… like Ulquiorra?'_

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First Chapter- done! Yay! I'm very pleased with how the first chapter turned out. ;P

I'd really love some feedback and critque on this, please and thank you. :) :)


	3. Chapter 2

Onna

Chapter 2

The place Captain Unohana led the group to was virtually empty except for one very long table placed in the center of the space. Just before the group entered, she gestured to the hall, "Go ahead and leave your belongings out here, we'll place them in your rooms once I've filled you in on what's going on. Oh," she suddenly turned to address the two arrancars, "I'd like the two of you to wait out here." The Ex-Espada muttered something foul under his breath, but surprisingly did what he was told. The child did the same.

The boy Orihime kept gazing back at still kept silent.

Once they had entered the room and her Lieutenant shut the door, the captain nodded to the chairs lining the table. Everyone stiffly took a seat. Unohana waited for them to settle before beginning the explanation they desperately wanted.

"As you already know, Captain Kurotsuchi, who is unable to be here at the moment, and I are very grateful that you all have come to assist us in securing a base here. You will be given different jobs, from helping me catalog information found in the library to lending him the hands he needs to organize all of the scientific equipment he's discovered here." Renji leaned over to Uryu, muttering "Great, Mayuri's got his hand on that pink headed freak's experiment crap." Ignoring their interruption, the Captain of the fourth squad continued, "Hopefully this will not take more than a few weeks, and we can get all of you back to the world of the living before the end of you're school break. If we are unable to do so, then the Soul Society will help give you a cover up story." Ichigo took advantage of her pause to ask the question on everyone's mind, "Okay, I get all of that, but how the _hell_ is Grimmjow here?" Captain Unohana sighed slightly at his question knowing she would have to answer it sooner or later.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, when you fought Grimmjow did you kill him?" He was silent. "I thought that much, for when I found him he was only a hair's width away from death, but not truly dead. The Soul Society, as a whole, had already considered the idea of having an arrancar or hollow in our ranks, but at the time it wasn't an option. When I came upon him I took the chance to do just what we didn't consider possible." They looked at her in shock. "You _healed_ one of our _enemies_?" Uryu gaped. The Captain smiled, "Yes and no. I brought him away from death, but he will never be able to regain his former abilities. He can't use his release form or even create a simple 'cero' for that matter. At the moment, he has only brute strength and a chipped sword at his disposal." All were silent as they let it sink in.

_Grimmjow_, the one who'd attacked Ichigo on several occasions. _Grimmjow_, the one who'd thrust his hand through Rukia's chest. _Grimmjow_, the one who'd caused Orihime both emotional and physical pain. _Grimmjow_, the one all of them had labeled as an enemy.

_Grimmjow_, the one who was now on their side.

Ichigo wasn't glad about the Ex-Espada's survival, but was in some ways…. Relieved. In the middle of their battles, even afterwards, Ichigo could almost imagine Grimmjow as someone he would have been friends with had he been human. The orange haired boy shook his head at the thought. Even if Grimmjow _was_ on their side at the moment, there was no way he was going to leave any of his friends alone with him or trust him in any way shape or form.

The child still tugged at Orihime thoughts.

"Um… Miss- _Captain_ Unohana?" Several pairs of eyes planted themselves on Orihime. "Yes?" Unohana asked. "Um… well… I was wondering… who's the little boy with Grimmjow? I mean, he has a mask and everything so… is he an arrancar too?" More then one head nodded in agreement that they too were wondering about the boy.

"All of you recall the arrancar child, Neliel Tu, right?" The female captain asked. Everyone nodded. How could anyone, especially Ichigo, forget the little runt and her friends that had tagged along with them the first time around in Hueco Mundo? After Aizen had been defeated, Ichigo had returned to find her, only to discover that her friends had already taken her and split. Pesche and Dondochakka were many things (annoying, dim-witted, loud, etc.) but Ichigo was thankful that they were intelligent enough to know that it was too dangerous for Nel to stay there.

"Then all of you know _why_ she is a child?" Again, they all nodded. Captain Unohana sighed, "When we first began investigating the rest of Los Noches, that young boy was found unconscious on the roof of the dome. All of us tried to get him to tell us who he was, or at the very least why he was there, but he wouldn't answer. He barely said a word. Luckily, Grimmjow knew who he was, or should I say had been." Orihime wanted to know who the little boy was, but the way Unohana was saying it made her anxious for some reason. "Captain, what do you mean 'had been'?" Rukia asked, saying aloud what they all wondered. "I said that because he_ too_ is a child the same way Nel is a child." If he was like Nel, then that could only mean he was once a full grown arrancar… but if Grimmjow knew him… Who could he be?

"His name is Ulquiorra," Complete and udder silence filled the room as she spoke the name of the man Orihime had first compared him to, "Ulquiorra Schiffer."

He was Ulquiorra- Ulquiorra was him.

"How the heck… is that possible…?" Ichigo finally breathed. Unohana scanned all of their faces. Every member of the group before her seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Ulquiorra Schiffer was defeated in battle, correct, but somehow he managed to keep himself alive long enough for his body to shift into defense mode. Though there may be only the two reported cases, we've discovered that arrancars turn into children because they no longer have the strength to maintain their form. A side effect, in some ways, of the Hougyoku."

That explained 'how' but not the 'how' Ichigo was talking about. Nel was the way she was because of an injury, but she hadn't _died_. Uryu, Orihime, and Ichigo had all watched the Espada turn to ash, and those who hadn't seen his death had felt the disappearance of his spiritual pressure.

_How was he able to become a kid?_

Seeing that her explanation had not helped clear up the confusion, she continued, "From what you have told us, and what we have found out ourselves, he had extremely developed regeneration ability. That is what saved him. The Espada's regeneration was taking place as he disintegrated, by the time he was completely gone his body was already rebuilding itself. If you had stayed at the site for another hour or so then you would have witnessed his revival." No one said anything for a long while, just trying to process what they'd learned.

"But he told us himself that he wasn't able to regenerate vital organs and brain cells." Uryu said. "Again, Ulquiorra's body went into defense mode. It was similar to what an adrenaline-rush would do to a human in a tight situation. He was able to do things he wasn't previously able to do to stay alive. Even if _he_ had given up, his body hadn't." Unohana replied. The Quincy went silent in defeat. After everything that the Espada had done to Orihime, he was unbelievable frustrated with his survival.

Orihime didn't know how to feel. Unlike the others, she hadn't relished the deaths of their enemies, Ulquiorra's especially.

Just as he'd begun to turn to ash, Ulquiorra had asked her if she'd feared him. The human girl had every reason in the world to say yes, or to run screaming from him, but had truthfully told him no. Something in Orihime had told her that these were the right words to say, the right thing to do. At her answer, he'd reached his hand out to her, only to turn to ash as their fingers met. For some reason, this small gesture had jarred something in her. She couldn't get his last words and actions out of her head.

A long period of silence past before the Captain spoke again, "Now that we've covered that, all of you will be lead the rooms you'll be staying in while here." Everyone stood from the table stiffly and headed for the door. "Miss Inoue," Orihime stopped at Captain Unohana's call. Rukia stopped to wait for her, but Unohana nodded for her to continue out with the others, leaving Orihime alone with the female captain. "Y-yes?" The girl asked.

"When I requested assistance, I wasn't aware that they would ask you and your friends." It took a few moments for Orihime to realize she was apologizing. "Oh, that's okay!" She said hastily, "We're glad to help. It feels nice to be needed." Captain Unohana smiled softly, "I'm glad you feel that way. Also, after everything that you've experienced here, I'd like you to know that if you wish to return to the world of the living, all you have to do is ask." Orihime was grateful that the captain cared about her well-being, but she had to stay. For her friends. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind, thank you." She said cheerfully turning to leave. Just as she was at the door, she paused to ask one last thing, "Captain Unohana..."

Orihime took a deep breath before she asked what seemed to hang in her thoughts, "Can he... I mean, Ulquiorra…. Can he remember anything, like… Who we are… or stuff from before?" She gave Orihime a reassuring smile, "No he cannot. Grimmjow was the one who told both us _and_ him who he was when we found him. Though, for some reason he kept asking for someone over and over… and we're not sure who they could be…" Orihime was relieved that the little boy wouldn't recognize her, or any of the others as enemies, but also very curious who Ulquiorra'd asked for. "What was their name?" She asked.

"Ulquiorra had kept asking for someone whom he called, _Onna_."

Her breath stuck in her throat and she couldn't make her lungs breathe. Ulquiorra couldn't remember who he had been, or where he was, but he knew that word. His name for her. _Onna. _

"Well," the captain said, "You should go find the others. They've probably already found their rooms." Orihime walked out of the room in a daze, following the voices of her friends as they made their way down the hall. When she finally caught up to them she saw that both Grimmjow and little Ulquiorra were with them. Chad gave her a slightly concerned look, "Are you ok… Orihime?" He grunted. She forced a smile on her face as she answered him, "Yep, I'm fine. Just a little tired from the trip over is all."

Ulquiorra was near the front of the group along with Grimmjow, who was poking fun at Ichigo for his previous stammering. The boy silently turned his head to look at her with wide green eyes. She gave him a friendly grin. Even if it was Ulquiorra, he was still just a child. Orihime wasn't going to blatantly be mean to him. He snapped his head back around at the sight of her smile.

It felt…. _Odd_ to have her smiling at him, and he didn't know why. Something in Ulquiorra twisted. She was here. The girl he'd seen when he'd first awakened in this horrid world was truly here. He should be happy, and yet… a feeling in the pit of his stomach said other wise.

'_She doesn't belong here.'_

He blinked once, twice, three times. Why had he thought that? His head suddenly felt fuzzy and _weird_. Like two trains of thought were going at once. His and one other. He shook his head slightly, as if he could shake the feeling away. His footfalls echoed quietly along with the rest of the people around him. Though, none of them seemed to realize that Ulquiorra had begun to lag behind the group as he fought to control his thoughts.

Except one.

Orihime watched as the boy-Espada silently slowed till he was almost behind even her, and she had come late. "Come on," She said encouragingly, "We better hurry before they leave us!" Ulquiorra was a little taken aback that she'd talked to him.

'_Why are you surprised?_'

Instead of speeding up, he stopped completely. His head was messed up, even more then usual. Why? Before she had came it hadn't been like that. Only the occasion mental comment or thought. Now, they were happening several times in less then a few minutes.

Orihime looked at him, and also stopped. "Are you… are you okay… Ulquiorra?" She asked, unsure of what else to do. "No." He said flatly and started walking again.

For only an instant, something flashed behind his eyes before he'd turned away from her again. Brokenness. Hurt. Confusion. This made Orihime want to comfort him. Not only because he was a little boy, but because he was Ulquiorra. Because she thought he deserved that much.

Especially after hearing about who he had called for when he'd first arrived. He'd cried out for her of all people. Not Aizen, or Grimmjow, or anyone else.

Just her.

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YAY, it's done!

I feel like I could have worded things better... :/

R&R plz


	4. Chapter 3

Onna

Chapter 3

They walked a few minutes before Grimmjow finally stopped and pointed down a hall they'd arrive at, "This is where they said you're gonna stay." He stated turning to leave, Ulquiorra right behind him. "Oh yeah," The blue haired Espada smirked, "Make sure you stay on this side 'cuause I can't guarantee you'll keep your life if you pass over to ours." What did he mean? "W-wait, huh?" Ichigo called after him. "What now?" Grimmjow replied gruffly. "What do you mean 'this half'?" The other man looked at the ginger headed teen as if he were mental. "Didn't Captain 'What's-her-face' explain it to ya?"

"Apparently not." Uryu sighed. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and scoffed, but explained none the less, "Your people decided to form a sorta deal with the remaining arrancars that were in Los Noches. If they didn't attack or purposely keep the Soul Society from forming and having a base here, they were allowed to have half of Los Noches as their own." He paused taking in the bewilder expressions of the others. Smirking he went on, "But, the soul reapers also said that they wouldn't bother the arrancars taking residence there. That's why I suggest you kiddies stay on this side 'cause they can, and will, kill you and there's nothing the Soul Society can do about it."

All of them had assumed that the remaining arrancars had been driven out of Los Noches. That the Soul Society now had control over the entire palace. The thought of angry arrancars just on the other side of their walls didn't comfort their anxious minds. "Well, 'night, Strawberry." Grimmjow called back as he left the group to ponder their situation. "That's just _great_; we're sharing a roof with arrancars who want our heads..." Renji sighed.

"Why don't we just go ahead and decide who gets what room and try to get some sleep. Everything that's happened today's made me exhausted." Uryu said. He wasn't the only one. After all of the information that was thrown at her that day Orihime was left completely worn out. Her emotions were so twisted about Ulquiorra's survival that she wanted to find some relief to the turmoil with a good night's sleep.

How much of it any of them were going to actually get while within the walls of Los Noches was questionable.

"Ladies first…" Chad said. The other men grunted in agreement. Without putting much thought into it, Rukia randomly picked the first room she saw. Orihime went ahead and picked the one a crossed the hall from her, the second door on the right. The guys divided the remaining rooms amongst themselves, and once everyone had said some sort of "good night", they all retired for the day.

Once she'd shut the door behind her, Orihime began the process of exploring her living quarters. Compared to the cell she had been placed in during her imprisonment, the room was quiet different. Not unlike the one she had sleep restlessly on so many times during her the first time she had come to Los Noches, a couch was pushed the far wall so that it was facing the doorway. To her surprise, this room actually had a bed in it. The piece of furniture had a tall wide headboard which was pushed against one wall so that the end stuck out into the middle of the room. Against the wall opposite of the full sized bed a small cream colored dresser was placed, a door way beside it led her to the bathroom. Once she had thoroughly inspected it, Orihime filled the empty dresser with her belongings.

After arranging her possession in each drawer she fell onto the end of the bed with a sigh. Not bothering to change into her sleepwear, the girl slipped off her shoes and stretched her limps out on the bed. Without even pulling the covers over herself, Orihime was engulfed in the calming unconsciousness.

Ulquiorra and Grimmjow made the long track back to the arrancar side of Los Noches. Even though the two captains had said that they were welcome to stay on their side of the palace, Grimmjow's ego was to large to allow himself to be around the humans anymore then he had to. Ulquiorra did the same seeing that it only be right that he too stayed loyal to his own kind.

Captain Unohana had Grimmjow watch over Ulquiorra for she assumed that he would be a much better guardian then any one she could provide since he too was an arrancar. Anyone would have been better then Grimmjow. He didn't put much effort into the child's well-being other then getting him food and providing him with clothing.

Allowing the boy to sleep never occurred to him.

The former Espada led both of them to the central converging area on their side of Los Noches. Most of the hollow residence used the open space to meet up with each other to talk or spar. Tonight they were more riled up then usual. Finding an unoccupied space, Grimmjow flopped down and began a conversation with another arrancar nearby.

Ulquiorra quietly sat down next to his blue haired guardian. With his legs pulled up underneath him, he looked over the crowed of violent and loud passersby. He caught bits and pieces of conversations; Grimmjow's included, and finally realize why everyone was so much worse then most nights. It was because of them. The new humans that had arrived. The ones that the onna had come with. The boy continued to listen to their rants about how they only wished to kill the orange haired boy. After what seemed like hours of a nonstop stream of sound, all of the voices began to run together. Ulquiorra's head bobbed once, and he found that his eyes were refusing to stay focused. Hoping that Grimmjow was to caught up in the excitement, he stood and slipped away down the hall.

Since Ulquiorra no longer had a proper room, he shared one with Grimmjow. Neither of them was comfortable with sharing a bed, so Grimmjow had dragged a spare couch into the bedroom they shared for Ulquiorra to sleep on.

The arrancar child immediately went over to the white sofa once he'd entered their room. Without a blanket or anything else to keep himself warm after he'd lain down, Ulquiorra pulled his legs up to his chest in a fetal position and wrapped his arms around his knees. Still unable to raise his body temperature, he allowed himself to fall asleep in defeat.

Ulquiorra had been asleep for only an hour or so when he lurched into a sitting position with a gasp. His emerald eyes scanned the darkened room. Grimmjow's snoring figure was in the bed nearby. He must have lumbered back to their room sometime after the boy went to sleep. Rapping his arms around himself, Ulquiorra laid his head back down and tried to push the dark images he'd just dreamed out of his head. That frustrated him to no end. The few hours of sleep he did get were always interrupted by nightmares with no apparent reason or logic to them. They were usually filled with a monstrous winged beast attacking him, or of his body disintegrating before his eyes. For some reason the new one he'd just experienced jarred every nerve within him for in his dream, the onna had died.

It had been as if he was watching the scene, but wasn't directly in it. A man in a familiar arrancar uniform stood over her, his sword drenched in the human girl's blood. _"Trash…"_ He'd called her as he turned away from her corpse. He simple strode away from the onna, not another word said. He face showed no remorse or guilt. The nightmare scared him not just because harm came to the onna within it, but because he recognized the man. He's face had been so eerily familiar. His face had been Ulquiorra's.

"_No." _He whispered, burying his face in the cushion. Even if Ulquiorra didn't have an explanation for why he had known who the human girl was, or why he had so dearly wanted to see her, the last thing he would do was bring harm to her. He refused to be the monster in his dream.

'_If I am a monster, then so are you, boy…'_

Ulquiorra clamped his hand over his ears. Gritting his teeth, he willed away the foreign thoughts that kept poking their way into his mind.

'_I am Ulquiorra Cifer, _not_ a monster!'_

The child screamed in his head. After a few moments his thoughts went quiet. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, Ulquiorra rolled over and stared at the other Espada hoping that he would wake soon. Grimmjow stirred in his sleep, but continued to snore. The little boy sighed; Grimmjow would probably sleep for a few more hours. This meant he would have to lye and wait until he woke.

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Ok, well... I'm playing on the idea that even though the little boy Ulquiorra is in control of his movement and thoughts, the real Ulquiorra is still making his feelings on the situation known. He's still aware of whats happening to his younger self. Bu of course Little Ulquiorra doesn't know that and he's a pretty freaked out by the thought of of having another person sharing his thoughts.

I really hope this chapter doesn't just sound like nonsense, because I feel like I could have wrote this better :(

R&R Please


	5. Chapter 4

Onna

Chapter 4

The quietness that had settled upon Los Noches was broken by a heavy sigh. Orihime rolled over in the bed and rubbed her eyes. She wondered if anyone else was awake as she untangled her legs from the cream colored sheets. Letting out a soft "hmph" noise, she stood and stretched. After she'd decided that every muscle in her body was relaxed and ready for the day ahead, Orihime went to the dresser and gathered her clothes she was to wear.

Once ready and fully dressed, she stepped out of her room and paused at the door. Orihime realized that she had absolutely no idea how to get back to the meeting room they had all gone to yesterday. "Ah! Orihime," Rukia smiled, exiting her own room, "Morning." Orihime returned the smile, "Good morning, Rukia." The raven haired girl covered a yawn with one hand and placed the other on her hip, "Do you have any clue how to get to the meeting place? All of the guys seemed to have left without us…" Orihime put a finger to her chin, "Well… I'm not exactly positive about where it is either, but I'm sure the both of us could find it if we try hard enough." Rukia didn't like the thought of wondering the halls of Los Noches, but the optimism in the other girl's voice was hard to challenge, "Alright then, if you say so…"

They had been walking for a few minutes, talking about 'this' and 'that', when different voices suddenly filled the halls. A harsh male's voice and a softer one of child's carried through the corridor.

Grimmjow and Ulquiorra.

"I seriously don't get you. I got less sleep then you, and you still act like you were awake the whole night!" Grimmjow scoffed. Ulquiorra sighed softly. The last thing he wanted was to argue with the Ex-Espada about the needs and such of children that differed from adults.

Orihime and Rukia finally rounded the corner meeting the two face to face. They paused to turn and look at them, before Grimmjow muttered an obscenity under his breath and continued on. Ulquiorra silently trailed behind him, even if he wanted nothing more then to walk in step with the onna. "H-hey! Can't you wait up a sec?" Rukia hollered after them. "What do ya want, midget Soul Reaper?" The blue haired man grunted. Rukia ignored the comment, "Orihime and I need to get to the meeting room, but we aren't familiar with the lay out of this place." Grimmjow rolled his eyes and continued on. "It's not far from here, just a few hallways down." Ulquiorra said pointing a small finger down the hall.

Grimmjow shot the boy a glare, but he ignored it. "Well… Would you two be willing to show us the way…?" Rukia trailed off, knowing that she was asking in vain. Grimmjow was about to tell the female Soul reaper off when a new thought formed. "Sure," he smirked, "I guess that wouldn't be too much trouble, right Green-tears?" Ulquiorra said nothing.

The Ex-Espada never willingly helped others, so why start now… and help the human invaders of all people?

Orihime continued to find her eyes falling back onto the arrancar-child as they followed the pair. Questions revolving around Ulquiorra kept circling her head. Did he resemble Ulquiorra's personality traits completely? Was he a totally different person? Why did he call out for her when he first woke? Why not someone else? She finally settled the fixation by keeping her gaze at his heels.

Ulquiorra suddenly realized what Grimmjow was planning as he began to recognize the familiar markers. "You are going the wrong direction." He stated, keeping his voice low enough that only the man at his side would hear. "Heh, not if you're taking the long way there." He smirked, glancing back at the women behind them. The child knew which way he was leading them.

There was more then one way to their destination. One way sent you through several passages before reaching the room. The other did the same, but led through several halls located in the other side of Los Noches.

The arrancar half.

"If we're supposed to have an alliance with the Soul Reapers, then what good would it do to lead them to trouble?" Ulquiorra asked, keeping his voice low. "Not my fault that they're too stupid to know that they're being led to our half." The other arrancar shrugged, "I warned 'em last night about going over to the other side."

He shouldn't care really. Ulquiorra's view on them should be the same as Grimmjow's. Their ignorance was not his fault… and yet knowing that he was taking part in leading the two women to what would most likely be their death's was not pleasing. The image from his nightmare of the onna drenched in her own blood, sprawled out dead, flickered briefly in his mind.

'_That will be her fat__e if she takes one step over that border.'_

For once, the boy did not try to silence the voice humming in his head. Ulquiorra inwardly grimaced, knowing it was the truth.

Just as Grimmjow was about to take the first step over the invisible line separating the two sides of Los Noches, the child made a quick turn. "This way…" he stated quietly. Orihime and Rukia glanced back and forth between the two. The blue haired man was cursing and glaring daggers at Ulquiorra, while the boy simple looked at the girls, waiting for them to follow. "Um… Okay?" Orihime said, leading both Rukia and herself in the direction of Ulquiorra.

"Brat!" Grimmjow snarled after them. The boy ignored him. Again. Fuming, the Ex-Espada turned on his heels, continuing on his own. "Good reddens!" He muttered. If the child wanted to babysit the humans so much he had no reason to stop him.

Relief. When Rukia and Orihime began to follow him Ulquiorra let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He didn't exactly think he would be able to handle seeing harm come to the onna.

'_No__, probably not…' _

He couldn't tell whether the thought was his own, or that of the voice insisting that it must add input to everything he did and thought.

With the direction he was leading them it would take the three much longer to get to the meeting room then if they'd followed Grimmjow. The child sighed. He'd much rather be late then lead the two humans to their death.

Truthfully, Ichigo was starting to worry slightly. Renji and him had been the first people to wake, so they had went ahead and found they're way back to the meeting room. Uryu and Chad woke sometime later and did the same. All of them had decided that they would let the two girls sleep longer. Now it had been at least an hour or so, and Orihime and Rukia should have woken and came down to the meeting place. Shouldn't of they?

"Maybe someone should go down and see if they're still asleep or somethin'." Renji said. "I don't think they would still be sleeping. Besides, it wouldn't do us any good if we got lost on our way back there." Uryu replied. "Chad and I barely found our way here." They all went quiet again. Ichigo opened his mouth to say something just as the door was kicked open. "Mornin' kiddies!" Grimmjow barked, coming in. He brushed off their aggravated glares as he took a seat a crossed from the orange haired boy. "Grimmjow, you're such an-" Ichigo held his tongue as both Captain Unohana and Captain Kurotsuchi walked into the room with their lieutenants.

"Good morning," Unohana smiled. "Yes," the other Captain added, scanning the group before him, "Morning to you all." Renji and Uryu visibly shrunk back in their seats. Mayuri rolled his eyes as he sat down, "Keep slouching, gentlemen, I can still see you." Once everyone was seated, Nemu stated the obvious, "Two of them are missing, sir." Her captain shrugged, "Maybe they got lost and wondered over to the arrancars' side." Ichigo stiffened, "Don't say that!" He sputtered. "Hmm, Jeagerjaques, I also see that your little 'tag-along' isn't present either." Grimmjow avoided the officer's eyes, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure the kid can take care of himself…" He knew that it was his responsibility to look after Ulquiorra, but still… it wasn't as if the boy made it easy on him, always ignoring what he said or doing the opposite of what Grimmjow asked of him. "I do hope you at least know where he is." The female Captain said. She didn't have to say what would happen if harm came to the child. Unohana had been given orders to protect and observe Ulquiorra, and Captain Kurotsuchi was eagerly waiting for the green light to run tests of all kinds on him.

If anything happened to the little boy, it would be on Grimmjow head.

Finally, the door opened to reveal the three absent members of the group. "Good, we were beginning to think that someone would have to be sent to look for you." Captain Unohana said, motioning for them to take a seat. Now that everyone was present, the two captains could explain what their duties were going to be.

"Now, let us start." Unohana said, "Everyone will have some sort of job or responsibility given by Captain Kurotsuchi or myself. For now, we'll address what needs to be done the most. I am organizing the books and catalogs we've found in the library. For those of you that are to be helping me, you will shelve and move different books and papers to different places in the library and around Los Noches." She nodded to the other officer, "Those who are going to be assisting me will be rebuilding and repairing the laboratory and domain of the late eighth Espada, Szayel Aporro Granz. I've found some use for the experiments and equipment he used, so I plan on using the building as what you could call a 'back-up' laboratory." Kurotsuchi paused, "I'll need some stronger people for the first part of the excavation. We'll be clearing out the rubble from the old building, and moving in materials for the new one." Well at least the jobs wouldn't be too difficult. "When will we start?" Chad asked. "Immediately." Both captains replied in unison.

They all were brought breakfast, and once they'd finished that, everyone split up into two groups. Orihime, Rukia, and Uryu made up those who were going to assist Captain Unohana, and Chad, Ichigo, Renji, and Grimmjow were to help Captain Mayuri. When everyone understood who was going where, the group split up to follow their assigned captain.

They had just begun the trip over to the old laboratory when Grimmjow finally noticed the small figure mixed in with the crowed. "Where the hell do ya think you're going?" He asked grabbing onto Ulquiorra's horn, forcing his head back in an uncomfortable looking fashion. "The same place as you." He replied jerking his head away. "_Yeah_, no. Get your ass back there and start pushing papers or somethin'. You'd just get in the way if you came with us." Grimmjow said throwing his thumb back at the people heading the opposite direction. Ulquiorra glared at him, and continued walking. "Tch, stubborn little…" The blue haired arrancar grabbed the boy around his waist and tucked him under his arm. "Wha! Let go of me!" Ulquiorra gasped wriggling in Grimmjow's firm hold. He ignored the child's pleas and began walking up to the other group. "Yo, Captain!" He called, cupping his free hand beside his mouth. Everyone turned at the call. "_Release me,_ trash!" The little boy was a ball of flailing fists and legs in Grimmjow's arms. "Take him." He sighed angrily. With that he tossed the child down the hall in their direction. The horned boy landed on his back and skidded to a stop at the Captain's feet.

"Mr. Jeagerjaques, I must ask that you try to be a bit… gentler next time." Unohana said as she offered her hand to the stunned kid on the floor. "I'll do that…" Grimmjow said sarcastically, turning back to catch up with the rest of his group. Instead of taking the officer's hand, Ulquiorra angrily stood on his own. The captain suspected that much, "Are you injured, Ulquiorra."

He was fine. The impact hadn't even hurt. "No. I'm not as fragile as you humans." He replied flatly. "I see…" she said. They continued on in silence.

She didn't say anything about it, but just then Orihime had found an answer to one of her questions. He wasn't exactly like the adult Ulquiorra. As they walked down the corridor she saw the gapping difference between the two.

Right then, Grimmjow'd made Ulquiorra angry, _furious_ even. And the boy-Espada hadn't even tried to stay composed.

This Ulquiorra showed his emotions.

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I procrastinated with this one...  
>I could have bee working on this one buuuuut I chose not to...<p>

Well, not a whole lot happened in this chapter, but it's still just starting out. The first few chapters are probably going to be pretty uneventful. Just setting up the true plot.

R&R please :)

PS: if you see any typos or mistakes, please tell me so I can fix them and improve with the next chapter(s).


	6. Chapter 5

Onna

Chapter 5

A library, that's what Captain Unohana had called it, but the place the small group stared at in awe now didn't fit the casual description. The room was just as cavernous as the rest of Los Noches, but it held shelf upon shelf of books and other written material as far as the eye could see.

Farther even.

"Th-this place… is a… library?" Orihime craned her neck as she unsuccessfully tried to see the tops of the book cases. "Yes," Unohana continued to weave them through the maze of shelves, stopping when they reached several tables lined with multiple volumes of literature. "Here," The female officer said, waving a hand at the materials, "Is where you all are going to start your work. These are to be placed in the appropriate section of topic then shelved alphabetically in said section." The captain pulled a slip of paper out of her sleeve and handed it to a confused Uryu, "This is a ma of the library, I'm positive it will be useful." With that, she turned and began heading farther back into the library, "I will be in one of the back work rooms if you have any need of my help." The four of them watched her image slowly be devoured by bookcases and shrink out of sight.

Orihime wore an expression close to that of someone trying to carry on a conversation with a foreigner speaking another language. The bright headed girl was completely lost on the instructions just given. Rukia understood how to shelf the books alphabetically, but had no idea what Captain Unohana meant by the "appropriate section". Uryu pushed up his glasses as he examined the map given to them. To put it simply, Ulquiorra was looked slightly bored with all of it.

But then again, "bored" was better then to have him sulking still about having to come along with them instead of Grimmjow's group (Which he did the entire time the were making the trek down to the library).

"Well…" Uryu finally said, looking up from the piece of paper, "From the looks of it, the job sounds harder then it really is." Going over to one of the table, he found a clear space and set the paper down for all of them to view. "See, the shelves are kind of clustered together in a way." He made a circle with his index finger on the page, "And each group has a title by it." He pointed at "Anatomy" with the same finger, "That's how they're sectioned off. And then putting them alphabetically shouldn't be too hard." They all looked at the piles of books laying about them. "Well… if we start off by categorizing the books before we put them on the shelf we would be able to do one section at a time." All of them, excluding Ulquiorra, nodded in agreement and set to work on putting the textbooks in piles.

After they had spent almost five hours categorizing over two hundred books, helping Mayuri rebuild a demolished laboratory was beginning to sound pretty easy.

"And… _Done!_" Rukia set down the last book in its coordinating stack. Everyone let out an exhausted sigh. "Okay… I think… I need a little break." Orihime said. "Yeah, I think we all deserve a short pause before we actual go shelf these things…" Uryu sighed. The two girls were spread out on one of the empty tables; Uryu was resting his head on a load of books. Even Ulquiorra was leaning heavily on a nearby bookcase. "My brain hurts…" Rukia stated to no one in particular. Everyone grunted in agreement.

"Slacking on the job a see."

They all sat up to look at Grimmjow as he strode in. "Aren't you suppose to be assisting Captain Kurotsuchi?" Ulquiorra asked, a slight hint of venom in his words. Obviously the boy was still angry at being thrown. "Yeah, but we're taking a break for lunch. I was supposed to get you guys." Grimmjow said, ignoring the hate behind the arrancar-child's words. "Mmm, I think that's exactly what we need before we finish with these books." Rukia said as both she and Orihime slid off of the table.

They were once again seated at the long porcelain table. A wide variety of conversations circled the group. All ranging from the seriousness of how the Soul Society was going to manage the safety and security of all the worlds they now had responsibility over (the world of the living, the Soul Society, and their "soon-to-be" Hueco Mundo base), to the light fluffiness of what they were eating for lunch. Trying to avoid the darker conversations, Orihime happily jumped into a debate with Rukia about what they thought their meal might consist of.

Since the men involved in the harsher topics had shunned the little boy out of their circle of discussion, Ulquiorra humored the two other women and actually listened to what they were conversing about.

"No seriously, Rukia! I really think that sounds super good right now!" Orihime exclaimed. "Ice cream… ramen… and wasabi?" The soul reaper a crossed the table from her raised her eyebrows. "Yes, it's very delicious! I'll have to make it for you sometime!" The bright headed girl beamed and clasped her hands together. "Um, well… that's okay. I'll take your word for it." Rukia quickly replied, trying not to be rude.

Grimmjow had told him that humans could be strange, but Ulquiorra was positive the combination of food the onna had described wasn't normal even by human standards… or edible.

"Oh- Ah- Um...!" Hanataro Yamada stumbled into the room balancing several teetering trays of food in his hands. "L-lunch is s-served." He stuttered as he unloaded the food onto the table trying his best not to send everything he'd just spent a good portion of his time on clattering to the floor. "Oh, here!" Orihime took a few of the dishes off of his hands. "No no, I can handle this Miss Inoue! Thank you for the offer though!" She shook her head, "It's ok, I'm closes to you, so I can just help you give everyone their food. Plus since there's so many of us, we can all just help pass the plates down the line!" The girl smiled. "Yeah, it's no big deal, Hanataro." Ichigo added. "O-okay then…" The fourth seat replied, hesitantly he handed Orihime another bowl.

In the end Orihime had been right. They'd all distributed the food fairly quickly. It probably would have taken longer had they allowed Yamada to do it all himself. "I hope the food taste alright, and thank you all for the help." Hanataro bowed quickly before taking his leave from the room. "Well that was stupid." They all looked at Grimmjow who had begun eating. "If the guy couldn't carry all of that stuff then why did he not take more then one trip?" Actually, Ulquiorra had just been thinking the same thing. It would have been smarter to take several trips with the food then risk dropping it all at once. "He probably didn't want us to wait any more then we had to." Renji shrugged. "Yeah? Well it was still foolish of him to try and handle something he couldn't manage."

Ichigo was getting fed up with Grimmjow's attitude. It'd had been that way since that morning when they'd helped Captain Kurotsuchi. All he'd done the whole time was make smart-ass comments about everything and everyone. That was starting to piss the teen off; he could tell that the others weren't exactly pleased with his behavior either.

Ichigo would have to have a talk with him later about that because he didn't completely like the idea of having to deal with his behavior for much longer.

"Has the food already been served?" Captain Unohana and her lieutenant entered and took a seat near the head of the table. "Yes, but there's still quiet a lot of food left for you and Captain Kurotsuchi." Rukia nodded. The female officers began dishing out their food onto their plates. "I'm afraid Captain Kurotsuchi will not be joining us for lunch today. It seems that he's become too preoccupied at the moment to come." Unohana replied, though it was more of an announcement to the group. "Shall I bring a plate down to him and Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, Sir?" Lieutenant Kotetsu asked pausing what she was doing. "No, I'll have whoever finishes their food do so." Her captain replied. Isane nodded and continued to eat.

Orihime looked down at her plate. She'd eaten a decent amount and was no longer hungry. "Um, Captain Unohana?" The other women looked up from her plate. "If you want, I could take Captain Kurotsuchi's food to him. I mean, it's just that I'm finished with my food so…" She trailed off feeling like she was babbling. "Yes, that would be helpful." Waving a hand, Unohana motioned for her Lieutenant to fill two plates with food. "Are you sure you can handle the dishes on your own?" Isane asked as she handed her the plates. Orihime wasn't the most graceful, but she nodded anyways.

The bright haired girl hadn't even got as far as the door before she stumbled, almost sending everything crashing to the floor. "Sorry! Sorry! I'll try to be more careful!" She quickly righted herself and shifted the two dishes in her hands. Suddenly there were no longer _two_ plates in her hands, but one.

Ulquiorra had taken it upon himself to carry the other dish.

"I am finished eating and it would be a waste of time if you had to come all the way back because you dropped the food." He stated flatly, "And you don't know your way around the palace either." Blushing Orihime had to admit it was true. She hadn't exactly considered the fact that she had no idea how to navigate around those halls. "Oh, thank you… Ulquiorra…" Without another word, they left for Captain Kurotsuchi's temporary office.

What Ulquiorra had told her was only half true. Yes, it would have wasted time if she had dropped the food and no, she didn't no which corridor led her where, but the main reason he was accompanying her was because Mayuri Kurotsuchi and his Lieutenant weren't people he trusted. Especially since the captain had made it very clear that he planned on taking the boy for himself once he was given the all clear. The child-arrancar didn't want to think about what the officer might have done to the onna had she gone by herself to give him the food.

'_So trusting… So ignorant…'_

'_Very.' _

Ulquiorra didn't know what he was more frightened of: the voice in his thoughts that wasn't his own, or the fact the he no longer tried to hush it.

That he and his inner demons were beginning to agree with one another.

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Woo~ Fairly short chapter, but that's ok :)

R&R Please


	7. Chapter 6

Onna

Chapter 6

Usually, when silence fell between two people it would eventually become awkward, which then led to someone breaking the quiet. Though, the hush that had fallen upon Orihime and Ulquiorra as the made their way to where Captain Kurotsuchi was didn't feel that way. The quiet between them wasn't so much of a suffocating noose as it was more of a lulling peace. Neither of them had anything they wished to say.

At least out loud anyway…

The corridors they traveled were filled with only the sound of the pair's footfalls; Orihime's slightly flatfooted slaps accompanied by her child companion's soft "heel-toe" clicks. "U… Ulquiorra?" The boy's head tilted slightly to look up at her, "Yes…?"

"I was just wondering, where exactly _is_ Captain Kurotsuchi?" The two of them had been walking for quite sometime at that point, and Orihime was beginning to wonder if they were ever actually going to arrive before the officers' food went cold. "The place he has chosen for himself and his lieutenant is on the farthest regions of the human side of Los Noches." Ulquiorra replied with a slight "matter-of-fact" tone. "O-ok then…" She said, trying not to sound too deflated.

"It's just a little while farther, Onna."

There it was. That name again. Orihime couldn't help but falter a bit at actually hearing it come from the little boy. It had fallen off of his tongue so naturally. Like he hadn't thought twice about using it.

Just as it had whenever the real Ulquiorra had done so.

The numbing silence fell over them again. Only now it was somewhat uncomfortable for the both of them. The ginger headed girl couldn't help but stare at the boy as she tried to come up with something to say. The arrancar-child kept his eyes ahead, though he could feel her gaze burning into him.

Unable to stand it any longer, he turned to call her out on her staring when instead he said something different:

"It's tipping."

Orihime blinked.

"The plate."

With a gasp, she quickly elevated the food dish back to an even level.

Even with Ulquiorra there to help her carry the platters, she had nearly sloshed the food onto the floor.

"W-whoops! I guess I should have been paying more attention…" She laughed awkwardly. "Yes, you should have." The boy replied monotonously.

'_You are so clumsy, Onna…'_

Orihime knocked quietly on Captain Kurotsuchi's closed door, "Uhm… Sir… Captain Unohana sent us down with some food for you and your lieutenant since the two of you weren't able to attend lunch with us…"

Silence.

"Kurotsuchi…?" Ulquiorra called.

_CRASH_

Orihime jumped at the sound while Ulquiorra made an odd face at the closed door.

_BLASH_

"DAMMIT NEMU!"

_SLASH_

_SLAM_

_BLAM_

A little disturbed by the noises that were coming from the soul reapers' corroders, Orihime hesitantly knocked again. "S… Sir?"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi flung the door open, slinging obscenities even Ulquiorra internally cringed at.

And that was coming from the boy whose guardian was _Grimmjow_…

"WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU FELT THE NEED TO INTERRUPT ME WHILE I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF RESEARCHING?" He bellowed.

"We brought your food…!" The red headed girl squeaked. "Oh." The Officer said, relaxing a bit, "I'm starved." With that he promptly snatched the plate off of Orihime's hands and turned back to his room, "Nemu, you useless piece of garbage, go get your own food and shut the damn door."

The arrancar-child was highly tempted to dump the remaining plate in his hands unto the floor for the man's behavior. "Here, I will take that." Nemu stretched out her hands towards Ulquiorra's food. With a soft sigh, he let the female officer take her dish off of his hands. "Thank you both." She said softly before closing the door.

Frowning slightly, the boy was suddenly very grateful that he had gone along. Who knows what Mayuri was capable of had he got it in his head to assault the onna in any way…

'_Yes, because a__ weakling arrancar boy could make a difference against a full fledged captain and his subordinate had they attacked…' _

'_I don't appreciate the sarcasm.'_

Ulquiorra didn't exactly welcome someone dissing him.

Especially when it came from his own head.

He and Orihime went ahead and departed for the library, agreeing that they're comrades were most likely finished with their meals by now and had done the same.

"Oh! Over here Orihime, Ulquiorra." Rukia hollered from the top of a ladder leaning against a bookcase as the two entered the cavernous "library". Uryu nodded to the stacks of books they had categorized earlier, "We went ahead and started shelving without your two. Rukia and I have already started on the 'Technology and Research' section."

Orihime nodded, "I guess we should grab some books and get started ourselves, right Ulquiorra?" The little boy said nothing, but followed her lead and took a book from the stack.

"Huh?" Orihime flipped through the book she had just removed from the table herself. "…'Ceros, Bala, yoda loads maze'… What do ceros and bala have to do with Yoda loading a maze?" Even if the ginger headed girl said odd things at times, _that_ was quite weird. All of them paused what they were doing to look at her. "Um, are you sure you're reading that right?" Rukia asked, raising an eyebrow. "Uh huh… I mean I think so. There's this funny little dot above the 'a' in 'maze' though…"

"Ceros, Bala, y todo lo demás?" Ulquiorra asked, finally relizing what she was trying to say. "Yeah, That's what it says on the front! 'Cero, Bala, y- what you just said." She comfirmed. Uryu rolled his eyes, "That's spanish, Orihime. Rukia and I also stumbled acrossed some other books like that." The onna made a soft "Oooh" noise before suddenly turning to Ulquiorra. "So you can read and speak spanish?" The excited glint in her eyes made the child faulter a bit before answering, "...Yes?"

With Grimmjow toting him around constantly, Ulquiorra almost _had _to know at least a bit of spanish to keep up with some of the blue haired man's conversations with fellow arrancars (A few of the people Grimmjow conversed with would fall in and out of english and spanish when they spoke {Even more so if they happened to be angery or drunk}).

Orihime shoved the book infront of him. "What does the title mean then?" Reluctantly, he informed them the book title's translation: Ceros, Bala, and Everything In Between.

"So then, I'm guessing that the book is probably about Ceros and such?" Rukia asked as she turned back to the shelf. "Yes, I'd assume so..." Ulquiorra replied.

They all slowly began to fall into a confortable silence.

Which was broken by the tear-streaked boy.

"Onna, what is a 'Yoda'?"

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I apologize if my spanish looks odd/is incorrect/doesn't flow properly or something, because I just looked it up on the internet (Google translate, ftw), and if there's any grammaticle/spelling errors anywhere below the spanish part, it's because my junky computer stopped letting me use Spell Chack after I put the other language in... -_-#

Even though I did go over it, there may be some spelling errors or junk in there...

anyways, As said before~

R&R


	8. Chapter 7

Onna

Chapter 7

After several hours of shelving books, explaining the concept of "Star Wars" to Ulquiorra (With some help from Uryu), and climbing up and down ladders to reach said shelves, Orihime was very much ready for bed. "It looks as if you have managed to shelf all of the materials. Thank you all very much." Captain Unohana said, coming to relieve them for the evening. "Captain, will you and Captain Kurotsuchi be joining us for dinner?" Rukia asked. The female officer gave a sad smile, "No, it seems both of us will be working through the meal. We will get our own dinner later on this evening."

With that they all made their way to the meeting room.

"I'm actually not that hungry for dinner, so I think I'll just go on to bed." Orihime said when they reached the split in the corridor, one hall leading to meeting room, and the other to the hall they were staying in. "Yeah, I think I'll just do the same." Rukia agreed. "Grimmjow most likely returned to the other side of Los Noches, so I am going to find him." Ulquiorra stated.

The group's members said their "goodnight's" (Well, more of an awkward nod in Ulquiorra's case) as they parted ways.

Of course though, Grimmjow was not in the arrancar half.

Ulquiorra searched for him at the converging place, their room, even going as far as finding his way to the dome. His blue haired guardian was no where to be found. The boy backtracked to Grimmjow and his room. Sitting on the edge of the couch, he tried to think of where he could have gone to.

The Ex-Espada hadn't gone to the Soul Society's side, had he?

Out of any other ideas, the arrancar child made the long trek back to the other region of the palace in search of him.

As soon as Orihime reached her room, she fell onto the bed rubbing her temples. Her head felt like it did whenever she had to take big important test at school.

Like all of her brains had been poured out onto the floor.

"I know!" She exclaimed to herself, jumping up from the bed, "A hot shower will help!"

The redhead continued to pull out a pair of pajamas, her shampoo and such, and a towel out of her dresser drawers before happily bounding into the bathroom.

The only place Ulquiorra could think Grimmjow might be in the Soul Society's section of the hollow castle was the meeting room.

Even then he couldn't exactly come with a logical explanation for why.

His guardian usually ate his meals with Ulquiorra in the arrancar side. The only reason they ate with the onna and her friends earlier was because they would only be returning to their jobs afterwards, so it was easier to eat closer to where they would be working. Though, now that they were free from their occupations for the evening, Ulquiorra had assumed that they would have their meal on the arrancar half as usual.

As Ulquiorra approached the room, he began to hear the conversation taking place inside through the half open door.

"God, I'm sore and stuff from all the crap Captain Mayuri had us do today." Renji complained "It wasn't that bad…" Chad shrugged. Everyone rolled their eyes at him. "Yeah, but that's coming from the guy who could lift a menos one handed." Grimmjow scoffed angrily. The conversation trailed off a bit until Uryu quietly broke the pause. "Hey, uh… Grimmjow?"

"Yeah, what d' ya want, 'four eyes'?" He replied sarcastically. "I have a question… About Ulquiorra."

The raven haired boy paused at hearing his name. Ulquiorra wasn't usually one to be noisy, but he felt he had some sort of right to hear what they were going to say about him.

'_And what if you hear something unpleasant?'_

'_Then it would be my fault for listening in on them.'_

He leaned against the wall next to the door as the topic continued inside.

"What about the brat?" Grimmjow asked. "It's just…" Uryu didn't know whether he should speak aloud what he was thinking or not, "Does he ever show any signs that he may have knowledge of his past…? Or maybe does things that only the _true_ Ulquiorra would do or say?" Grimmjow sobered up a bit at the more serious question, "What made you ask that?" The quincy sighed, "I'm asking you because I got to thinking about the fact that if Ulquiorra did change back to his former self while we're here, it probably wouldn't end well…" In some way, everyone had been thinking the same thing. "Plus," he added, "You seem to spend quiet a lot of time with him…"

Grimmjow was eerily serious. "You're afraid that if he turns back, he'll come after you guys."

"Yes"

"Actually, I don't blame ya." The Ex-Espada leaned back in his chair. "And about you're questions, the brat hasn't really shown anything that made it seem like he knows about who he actually is, in front of me at least. But," He paused, "The brat acts _exactly_ like Green-Tears. How he presents his stuck-up ass, how he talks, everything." Grimmjow leaned his elbows on the table. "Does he show any signs of turning back though?" Ichigo asked. "Not really… I mean, I don't know?" They all sighed in frustration, "Your no help!"

"Hey, Ichigo?" Chad asked, "What happens if he does change back…?" They all went quiet.

"I dunno, Chad… but it can't be good…"

'…_knowledge of his past…'_

'…_true Ulquiorra…'_

'…_Change back to his former self…'_

'…_come after you guys…'_

'…_can't be good…'_

What? Ulquiorra couldn't make since of what they were saying.

It was true. He couldn't remember anything before the moment he first opened his eyes to the night sky, but… he'd never put much thought into what his past was before then. And what did they mean by _"true self"_. They were all making it sound like Ulquiorra wasn't who he was supposed to be.

_'It's because you are-'_

Ulquiorra clamped his hands over his ears and went running.

The voice in his head, the appearance of the onna and her friends, everything he'd just heard, he wanted to get away from all of it. The child didn't know what he was supposed to do anymore.

The little boy just wanted to flee from everything.

All of the familiar halls suddenly began to blur and Ulquiorra no longer knew whether he was on the arrancar side or the soul reapers' side. Just wanting to escape all of the issues bombarding him, the young arrancar yearned for sleep. He'd rather deal with his nightmares rather then the problems at hand.

Since most of the rooms in the palace were unoccupied, the child didn't think twice about entering the nearest room and crawling up onto the bed. He pulled the thin covers over his head, curling into himself.

_Ulquiorra suddenly found himself in one of Los Noches' porcelain corridors. He didn't exactly know why or how he'd gotten there, but something in his gut told him to continue moving._

_After a few minutes of walking he passed by a doorway and began to feel a suddenly rush of Deja-vu. The same feeling that __had pushed him forwards was now dragging him towards the same room. Hesitantly, the boy let his hand fall upon the knob and push the entrance open. _

_The room was fairly small compared to most of the others in the fortress. A plan couch sat slightly to the side in the middle of the space. A single barred window hung highly on the wall opposite the door. The ever present Hueco Mundo moon could be seen perfectly through the small opening, giving the room an eerie glow._

_Ulquiorra took a small step into the room to inspect it further when the door suddenly shut behind him. The arrancar-child turned on his heels. He could slightly make out a slender figure lurking in the shadows next to the door._

"_Who is there?" Ulquiorra demanded, angrier at himself for falling for the trap then afraid of the shrouded person before him._

"_Why do you ask a question you already know they answer to?"_

_The boy recognized the voice instantly. It was the same as the one that had been haunting him through his thoughts. He faltered slightly before replying, "I don't know who you are though."_

"_Have you not re__alized yet," The other man sighed softly, stepping out into the moonlight, "You and I are the same."_

_No._

_The boy didn't know how to reply even if he could. The man before him was the same arrancar he'd dreamt slaughtering the onna. He recognized him as the same person dissecting his thoughts._

_And now that same person was telling him that he was… well.. him._

_Ulquiorra straightened to hide his surprise and confusing, "That is not… possible!" He spat. The man's deadpan face revealed nothing, but his eyes showed a mixture of frustration and exhaustion._

"_Actually, you are right." Ulquiorra's unwanted companion replied, "You and I are not the same. I am the original while you are simply my child doppelganger." The little boy tried to disagree again, but was cut off. "You are nothing, trash."_

_Ulquiorra felt like he'd been slapped in the face. That was the first time anyone had ever used his own word against him._

_And it hurt._

"_I am Ulquiorra Cifer. No matter how many times you call yourself that name, it will only be that. Words. Never will you truly be the person to whom they title." He continued, taking a step forward with every word until he was directly in front of the boy._

"_No!" Ulquiorra cried out, "That is _my_ name! That is _my_ life!"_

"_Tell me, boy, do you know your past? Can you tell me why you have those tears upon your cheeks? Or why-" _

"_You're Wrong! I am not you__!" The boy thought back to the previous nightmare, "_I_ would never hurt her, Onna! I would never bring her to death!" He retorted in anger. The man before him grew silent. Ulquiorra was not usually one to throw low blows, but he was tired of the man insisting he was someone other then himself._

"_Do you even know why you are so fond of her…?"_

_The question was unexpected. "I… Because I…" Everything suddenly came crashing down around him because Ulquiorra couldn't answer. "You cannot answer my question because everything involving her is before your existence… and because she is not yours." _

_The little boy stared up at the man in silence. _

_Not his._

_He had never realized it until now. Whenever he thought about the onna, __or spoken about her, it had always been in an almost possessive manner._

_She had always been _his_ onna._

_When in reality, the man declaring to have his name, the 'other' Ulquiorra Cifer, had already laid claim to her._

_Just as he'd said_

_She was his before Ulquiorra had even existed._

_What frightened him the most was that everything he was being told actually matched up with everything before this. It explained all of the gaps in his past. The conversation he'd overheard._

_And he couldn't handle it._

_It was just too much at once._

_The boy felt his own tears dampen his feet before he even realized he was crying._

"_It had been a warning to you." The true Ulquiorra finally said, his monotone voice holding a softer tint to it, "When I had shown you her death, I was trying to caution you to keep her safe." The child wiped unsuccessfully at his eyes, "Why? Did you not just say she was not mine to care for?"_

_"Yes, but I gave you that image to push you to do something for me." The pale man replied. "I cannot protect her in my current state, thus I was forcing you to do so in my place."_

_"Why were you forcing me to do something I would have done anyways?" The younger Ulquiorra asked. His older self failed to reply._

_"Even if the onna isn't mine, I think.. I'll still keep her safe… Ulquiorra." It sounded odd to say his own name towards someone else, but the boy-arrancar meant it._

_Ulquiorra Cifer turned his head, avoiding the kid's gaze as he spoke words very foreign to his tongue,_

_"Thank-"_

Ulquiorra's eyes snapped open to find the onna hovering above him. "U-Ulquiorra… Why are you… In my bed?"

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Finally Ulquiorra and... er... ULQUIORRA get to meet! Even if it is through a dream, it is still needed. Yay closure! (sp?)

And yes, Ulquiorra made lil Ulqui cry D:  
>Im so cruel aren't I :P<p>

R&R Plz :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)


	9. Chapter 8

Onna

Chapter 8

"Ah! Everything's all steamy!" Orihime giggled as she stepped out of the shower, seeing that the mirror was extremely fogged up. "I guess the shower was hot." The bright headed girl hummed happily to herself as she dressed in her nightgown and other sleepwear.

She had needed that shower. Now Orihime felt more relaxed and her headache was gone.

After wiping off the steamed glass and putting her wet towels in the hamper by the door, the girl stepped out of the bathroom and headed over to the bed. Only to stop mid step.

Two little black sandals were sprawled out on the floor at the foot of her bed. Her eyes trailed up the mattress to discover a small lump underneath her blankets that was rhythmically rising and falling. Hesitantly, Orihime tip-toed over the foreign entity and _slowly_ pulled back the covers.

Ulquiorra?

She looked down at the little boy in confusion. What was Ulquiorra doing in her bed? Not that the young women was upset or angry about him being there… It was just… _odd_. _'Should I wake him…?'_ She thought, staring at the unconscious boy. Then again, if she let him be, where would she sleep, the couch?

"Nnnh…" Ulquiorra's eyebrows frowned and the corners of his lips descended a bit. "N…No…" He mumbled. _'A nightmare?' _She wondered, _'Well, then I diffidently should wake him.'_ Orihime reached out a hand to gently shake his shoulder. "Onna…!" The child cried out in his sleep. The teen let her hand hover in the air above him. Why would he call out to her if he was having a nightmare? Ulquiorra was practically folded into himself but still he drew his body into an even small ball. The red head gently sat down on the edge of the bed and tenderly shook the tear-streaked boy's arm, "Ulquiorra." His face scrunched up slightly before he sleepily opened his eyes, "Mmm Hm…?"

"U-Ulquiorra… Why are you… In my bed?"

The arrancar-child's eyes completely snapped open.

_Her_ bed. He was in _her_ bed. He had ran to _her_ room, and fell asleep in _her_ bed. Even just waking from his nightmare, Ulquiorra realized his major error. In his haste to get away from his problems, the boy'd lost track of his surroundings and involuntarily gone to the onna's room.

_"Oh, there's no real reason I am in your bed. I was simply running away from the conversation your comrades had that I over heard and accidentally fell asleep in your room. Also, while I was asleep I had a wonderful talk with the voice in my head. Would you like to hear what he told me?"_

Yes, because that didn't make him sound like a lune.

Ulquiorra straightened himself into a sitting position before swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress and quickly slipping on his shoes, "I… wasn't aware this was your room. I was not able find Grimmjow on the arrancars' side, so I decided to look for him in this region. Still unable to locate him, and being very exhausted, I decided to sleep on the Soul Society's side instead of walking all the way back to mine and Grimmjow's room. I was wondering the halls in search of him so long I must have lost track of where I was, for I assumed that this room was… unoccupied…"

Once he'd finished, Orihime smile and nodded, "Okay, I see how something like that could happen."

'_You are lucky she is so clueless, for that was an awful lie, boy…'_

'_I know…'_

"I will be leaving now. My apologies for intruding…" Ulquiorra said softly, before getting up.

"W-wait!" He paused at Orihime's call, "I mean, you couldn't have been here too long, so Grimmjow's probably still not back… so… Why don't you stay here for tonight?" For some reason she didn't like the idea of the little boy walking all the way back and sleeping in his and Grimmjow's room without someone with him.

Plus it made her feel better to know that she wouldn't be completely alone in her room.

The young arrancar stared at her as if she's just asked him to say "I love you." to Grimmjow. The idea of sleeping in the same room as her gave him the same feeling. Wrong.

But…. It did sound better then sharing a space with his blue haired companion.

"I assume I'll be sleeping on the couch, then?" Orihime grinned happily, "Yeah! I can just go find an extra blanket and…" She trailed off. Ulquiorra'd already crawled up onto the couch, kicked off his shoes, and curled himself into his previous position. "I do not want a blanket." He stated, closing his eyes. "You sure?" She asked. Taking his silence as a "yes" she smiled, "Well then… 'Night, Ulquiorra!"

"Goodnight, Onna…"

Orihime grinned happily as she clambered into bed. Why was she so happy about having Ulquiorra in the same room as her though…? Sighing a bit, she allowed herself to look back at the boy. The raven haired child shivered slightly.

'"_I don't want a blanket", my butt.' _The girl thought, sitting up, "Um, Ulquiorra?" He flicked and eye open to show that he was listening. "Uhm… If you're cold, we could share my bed." Ulquiorra pushed himself up on an elbow and gave her a wide eyed look. "Oh, that sounded weird didn't it! Um, what I meant was that there only seems to be one blanket for this room, so it'd just be easier to share my bed and blanket instead of you freezing."

"I am not cold-"

"You're shivering over there!"

"…"

Orihime scooted over to one side as far as she could as Ulquiorra awkwardly slipped under the covers. "See, you get that side and I'll get this side." She stated, drawing an imaginary line down the middle of the sheet. The boy said nothing as he rolled over onto his side facing away from her. "Okay, now goodnight for real this time." The red head giggled slightly as she too laid her head down.

When she had been younger, Orihime would almost always share a bed with her older brother whenever the house got too cold for her to sleep alone. So really, she didn't see anything wrong with sharing a bed. He was just a little kid after all.

'…_!'_

'_She insisted.' _

Ulquiorra sighed. His original self was _not_ happy with the sleeping arrangements at all.

It wasn't five minutes later that Orihime's deep sleep filled breathing occupied the room. Ulquiorra couldn't seem to get to sleep, so he decided to lye still and pretend he was else where.

And he was doing pretty well at that until something warm wrapped itself around his waist and drug him a crossed to bed.

Ulquiorra let out a surprised gasp as Orihime pulled him against her. "Mmmh…" she sighed in her sleep. Every nerve and muscle within the little boy's body was completely on edge. Very slowly, her reached down to her death grip and plucked at the hand binding him. The arrancar groaned softly for he couldn't get her off of him (without breaking her fingers that was).

After a few moments, the child's lids suddenly became heavy, and drooped over his line of vision. Letting his muscles relax in Orihime hold, he felt sleep tugging at him.

It was only ironic that he fell asleep in her arms.  
>_<p>

Somewhere in the middle of the Hueco Mundo desert, a child gasped excitedly. "We gotta go! We gotta go to Lush Nochas!" She squawked at her two comrades. "Why would ya wanna go back there? Don'tcha remember how scary it was the last time we were there?" One of them asked her as he moved his arms to show emphasis. "Yeah, that place was scary!" The other agreed. "And? We have ta go 'cause he's there!" She retorted. "Who?" The other two asked in unison. The little girl smiled widely,

"_Itsigo!"_

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I'm sorry this is so short, but it's a very meaningful chapter :)

Lol, this chapter is so fluffy you could stuff an Ulquiorra plushie with it!

Hmmm... and who do we know that says "Itsigo" ;)

(Pssssst! See that little blue "REVIEW" button? Everytime you press that Ulquiorra gets _thiiiiiiiiiis_ much closer to smiling) lol, jk. but really. Reviews motivate me to keep writing.


	10. Chapter 9

Onna

Chapter 9

Ow.

Ow.

OW.

Moaning slightly, the red headed teen tried to roll over in her sleep.

And was stabbed again.

Reluctantly, Orihime opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing her wounded cheek. _'What possible could have poked my…'_ The girl spotted the offending object.

Ulquiorra's horn.

She hadn't realized that she'd been so near the child. His chipped arrancar helmet had been poking into her cheek because of their closeness. Orihime blushed a bit. Even if he _was_ a little kid, he was still _Ulquiorra_. She never would have gotten that close to the Espada… and yet she'd willingly shared a bed with his younger doppelganger.

Sighing, the girl decided that she might as well get ready for the day. As she got out of bed and stretched, a small giggle escaped her as she watched Ulquiorra. The boy'd frowned in his sleep at her sudden absence, and rolled over to smother his face in the sheets that still held her warmth. _'I'll let him sleep a little bit longer…'_ Orihime thought, returning the covers to their place over him.

After going through her morning rituals, and putting her nightgown on top of the dresser, the bright haired girl went over to the figure still sleeping.

"Ulquiorra, it's morning time."

He mumbled something incoherent before sitting up. Looking at her through bleary emerald eyes, he stated simply, "You cannot have morning, Onna, if there is no sun." The arrancar-child jumped slightly when Orihime laughed loudly. "S-sorry!" She gasped. For some reason she found his simply statement hilarious. "I was no trying to be 'funny'." The young women nodded, finally getting control of herself. "I'm sorry! It's just that I guess your very right, you _can't_ have morning without a sun."

"I am going to get myself ready." He said, dropping the conversation. "Okay then!" Orihime replied cheerfully. Ulquiorra silently got up and went to the bathroom. It wasn't a few minutes later that the shower was turned on.

With nothing better to do, Orihime sat down on the bed and fell back onto the mattress.

After about fifteen minutes, the lavatory door opened again to reveal a half dressed Ulquiorra. The boy set his jacket and socks down on the couch as he went to retrieve his sandals. He paused, shoes in hand, to look at the onna. She was sitting rigidly, staring at him with a worried look.

"What is the matter?"

"What… happened to you, Ulquiorra?"

The raven haired child glanced down at himself, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, he looked back up and cocked his head to the side slightly in confusion. Nothing was wrong with him.

"How did you get all of those… _scars_?" Orihime asked, pointing at his chest. Most of his torso was covered in scars ranging from small cuts to deep, diagonal slashes. Even a perfect ringlet of raised tissue circled the upper part of his right arm.

This wasn't the first time someone had questioned the origin of his healed wounds. When he'd first been brought down from the dome several different soul reapers working under Squad Four had also asked about them. He had given them the same answer he was to give her:

"I do not know."

The onna frowned deeper. Though, it was not one of anger, but worry, "What do you mean you don't know? It's your own body and you don't remember hurting it?" Ulquiorra shook his head and continued getting dressed, ignoring her questioning stare.

What he'd said was not a lie. The child couldn't remember ever _not_ having the scars marring his body. They had existed when he'd first awoken to this world.

'_Fibber…' _Orihime thought, crossing her arms. How could he not remember getting all of those wounds?

"Why did you not go to the meeting room already?" The little boy asked, finally breaking the heavy silence. "I was waiting for you." The bright headed girl replied, as if it were the most obvious thing. "I understand that, but why did you feel the need to do so?" She shrugged, "I don't know, it just seemed kinda rude to leave without you." Her child companion stood and zipped his shirt, "We should go now then, before we are late."

When the pair entered the meeting room, three things were very apparent:

One, there were more chairs.

Two, more people were seated at the table in said chairs.

And three, the new comers held _very_ familiar faces.

A very young girl baring a cracked arrancar mask was perched on Ichigo's lap, babbling away as if she hadn't even noticed Ulquiorra and Orihime's entrance. Two other lesser arrancars were sitting (The two were moving and flailing so much it was a wonder they hadn't fallen off of their seats) in the chairs on either sides of the ginger haired teen. From the looks of things, everyone already there seemed to be on their last nerve because of the trio.

"Morning…" Renji grumbled as the pair took their seats. "Good morning!" Orihime greeted, "When did Nel and them get here?" Pinching the bridge of his nose, Uryu answered her, "Earlier this morning." She nodded and looked at the rest of the people seated to see that everyone was sharing the same expression of annoyance. Grimmjow looked as if he were two second away from hoping over the table and wringing the necks of the green headed girl's friends. And poor Ichigo was stuck with them herding around him, and because he didn't want to hurt the child's feeling, the teen was trying his best to be nice.

But even that was becoming hard to do.

The bright haired girl smiled apologetically, "That bad?" Everyone both looked at the toddler then back at her. "Yes."

Looking around the table once more, Orihime realized that some people were missing, "Where's Rukia and Chad?" She asked. "Rukia's still getting ready." Renji nodded. "And Chad worked pretty hard yesterday, lifting and moving rubble and all, so Captain Unohana said it would be good for him to sleep in a bit today." Just as he finished, Rukia entered.

Stopped at the doorway.

Then continued quickly to her seat.

"Nel." All of them stated to answer her silent confusion.

"Onna,"

Orihime turned in her seat to face Ulquiorra, "Yeah?"

"I assume then that she is 'Nel'?" He pointed slightly a crossed the table. The young women nodded, "Mmhm, Nel is-" She was interrupted by a loud gasp.

"You don't know who Nel is?" Nel hollered at him from Ichigo's lap. She clamored up from the teen and onto the table. The substitute soul reaper went to pull her off but she dodged his hand and ran down the porcelain top to stand in front of Ulquiorra. "Hi!" She beamed, "Nel is Neliel Tu, but u can call Nel 'Nel'!" The child stated, putting a hand on her chest. Ulquiorra nodded slowly, looking at her oddly. She was even more rambunctious then the onna.

'_If I am correct, this child was once an Espada. __Neliel tu Oderschvank, formerly third ranked.'_

'…'

'_I am telling you this because she still ranks above me… you. I was only fourth. Even if she is a child I suggest you do not show disrespect.'_

'_I do not understand? How does a child become an Espada?'_

'_Neliel is the same as I, forced to become a child due to injury.'_

'_I see…' _

"So who're you?" Nel asked Ulquiorra.

"My name is Ulquiorra Cifer."

She nodded, "U-Ul… Lio..qulor… ri…" The child frowned as she struggled to say his name, "Ul…l..liorr…-" Grimmjow rolled his eyes, "_Ulquiorra._" Nel stamped her bare foot on the table, "Shat up, Gimm-joe, Nel will say it herself!" Just then Ichigo snatched her up off of the table top and headed back to his seat. "Put Nel down, Itsigo! Nel is still talkin' to… to... to Loui-orra!" Grimmjow was rolling in his seat with laughter. "She butchered your name also, _Gimm-joe_." The little boy retorted. The Ex-Espada looked as if he were about to say something back just as the two captains entered.

"Good morning, Sirs." Renji grunted. The officers nodded their greetings as they sat down.

The Captains would go on to explain that each group would be doing virtually the same as the day before.

Mayuri still needed help clearing the rest of the debris, and Captain Unohana'd had several piles of books shipped over from the arrancar side to the library that need to be shelved.

With that explained, only one thing was left to figure out.

Which group were Nel and her friends going to go with?

"Er… Hey Nel, why don't you, Dondochakka and Pesche go help Ichigo and the others? I'm positive they'd love your assistance!" Uryu quickly said. "Okay! Nel and her brothers will help Itsigo!" She exclaimed. Renji glared at the Quincy. Suddenly, a large smirk grew a crossed Jeagerjaques' face, "But Nel, I'm sure little Loui-orra would just _love_ some company around his age." Nel gasped dramatically, "Yo wight! Nel doesn't want Loui to be sad…er." Ulquiorra glared daggers at his guardian whom mockingly made faces at him behind the toddler's back. "Okay, but the guys need all the help they can get, so why don't Dondochakka and Pesche help them then." Rukia suggested. The green haired girl nodded, "Yesh, Dondochakka and Pesche will help Itsigo while Nel goes with Loui-orra."

Nel happily took the lead as they parted ways. Rukia turned around, pulled down the cheek of her left eye, squinted the other, and stuck out her tongue. Everyone accompanying Kurotsuchi silently cursed.

If the paper pushers got Nel, then the construction workers got her "_brothers_".

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Enter Nel and company!

Whoo~

And some horn humor.

Seriously, it's just stickin' out there; I gotta poke fun at it. (plus I've always wondered how he slept with that darned helmet. I mean, wouldn't he rip holes in his pillows with that thing?)

*shot*  
>==<p>

Also, Chayoo was awesome enough to write me a nice review on the last chapter telling me about my spelling/Spanish error. I was spelling LOS Noches, instead of LAS Noches... ^^;

but I'm too lazy to go through all the previous chapters and fix it, so I'll simply spell it correctly from here on.

Thanks for the helpful critique though Chayoo-san! :)

(If you see anything in this fic {or my others for that matter} that needs correcting/edited, don't hesitate to review and/or pm me about it. I'd rather get harsh critique then look like an illiterate fool because of an error in my writing.)

To be continued (I've had people ask me if I was going to continue this, and I'm just like "DUUUH~", but I'll put this anyways.)

Reviews are greatly appreciated :D


	11. Chapter 10

Onna

Chapter 10

"Booooorrrreeeddd~ Nel's so boooorrreeeddd!" The green headed toddler swung her legs back and forth over the edge of the table. For the last half hour she's made sure everyone present was aware of her boredom, and it was fraying the last strands of their patience. "Nel is Bor-" Rukia sighed in frustration as she swiftly dug in her pocket, retrieving a box of crayons and a small notepad.

"Here," She said, slamming the objects onto the table top, "Why don't you draw while we finish this?"

Nel's eyes lit up as she poured out the contents within the box given to her. "Oh! These are so pretteh, Ruk-ya!" Orihime and Uryu both gave the female soul reaper a "We-owe-you-one" kind of look. The once noisy girl began to hum quietly as she sprawled herself atop the table, happily scribbling away.

After about a minute or so, Ulquiorra asked, "What are those… colored sticks you gave her?"

Rukia gave the boy an odd look, "Those are crayons. People use them for making art." He was just about to comment on what an odd name "crayon" was when Nel interrupted him.

"Loui-orra, you wanna color with Nel?" The boy gave the paper and crayons a look of distaste.

"No. I am assisting with shelving books... and it looks very unentertaining."

The girl's bottom lip pushed out in a pout, "You're so mean Loui-orra! Mean, meanie, mean, mean, meanie, mean, meanie, meanie-"

"Ulquiorra, would it really kill you to entertain her for a little bit? We're almost done with these books, and it would keep her quiet until we're finished." Uryu sighed. The boy roughly shoved the book in his hands upon the shelf and hopped down from the stool he'd been standing upon.

Loudly, Ulquiorra drug a chair over to the table Nel was lying on. Huffing, he flopped down upon the seat as Nel quickly laid out several crayons before him along with a poorly ripped-out piece of paper. The green-haired toddler babbled quietly about nonsense he really didn't care about as he looked down at the blank paper and colorful wax sticks.

Nel paused several times to tell him to draw something, but he had no idea what to draw. _People__use__them__for__making__art,_Rukia had told him, but what was art? He recalled hearing somewhere that art was in the eye of the beholder… or maybe that was beauty… Either way, Ulquiorra felt odd being unable to perform such a simple task as putting color upon a blank canvas.

He craned his neck to see what Nel was scribbling. It looked like a very deformed picture of the two arrancars that had accompanied her here along with an odd, worm-like thing.

"That's Nel's fam-ly," She exclaimed, "Oh Nel knows! You can draw your fam-ly, Loui-orra!" Ulquiorra said nothing as she continued to ramble. Well, that was one option on what he could draw, but…

What was a family? From what he saw of Nel and her comrades, in their own annoying way, they cared for her. Was that a family? Was it someone who cared for you, and enjoyed being with you? And if that were the case, did Ulquiorra even _have_ a family? The little boy tried to think of who cared for him, someone he could consider his family.

The first person to come to mind was Grimmjow, but Ulquiorra quickly crossed him from the list. The Ex-Espada "cared" for him about as far as he could throw a menos, as did the other arrancars. All of the Soul Reapers who had showed some sympathy towards the child had done so simply because their Captain had ordered them to. The humans and substitute shinigami weren't unkind to him, but made no effort to be overly nice either. That left only the onna…

She was kind to him. She offered him assistance when others did not. The human woman even went as far as to offer him her bed for the night. That meant she cared for him, didn't it?

* * *

><p>Orihime and the others finally finished their work just as Lieutenant Kotetsu arrived to relieve them for the night. As they went to gather the two children though they realized there was a slight dilemma. Both kids were fast asleep. Nel was sprawled acrossed the table drooling slightly in her slumber, while Ulquiorra's head rested on his arms.<p>

"I guess you can't blame them," Uryu sighed, "It's been a fairly long day for the two."

Deciding not to wake them, Rukia pulled Nel off the table and cradled her awkwardly as Orihime tried her best not to wake Ulquiorra as she gently lifted him from the chair. He mumbled something incoherent about garbage as she let his head rest on her shoulder. To Orihime's surprise, he was much lighter then she expected him to be.

Their Quincy companion quietly gathered the papers they'd been drawing on along with Rukia's sketch pad and crayons, following silently behind them.

"I guess we could just let them sleep in our rooms until they wake up since we can't exactly take these two acrossed to the other side." Rukia finally whispered. Once the three of them arrived, Rukia quietly went and to lay Nel on her bed while Orihime did the same for Ulquiorra.

Just as the young woman went to lay the little arrancar down, however, he clung to her. After several attempts to remove Ulquiorra's death grip on her shirt without waking him, she huffed, blowing stray hair out of her face.

_You__'__re__so__difficul-_Her frustrated thought was cut off as the boy's hands slowly unclenched. Sighing with relief, she finally set him upon the mattress and silently pulled the covers over him.

He looked so… innocent. Orihime knew who the child before her really was and what the true Ulquiorra had done in his lifetime. Now though, as she stared down at the unconscious boy in her bed, she didn't see that. Orihime didn't see a cold, staunch Espada, but instead a helpless little kid.

It made her sad, actually. That he was a child living in this world. Hueco Mundo in itself wasn't a place for most adults, let alone someone so young. Ulquiorra was growing-up (even if he didn't _physically_grow) in a world where one was forced to fight or die.

Even though he was still, _technically_, Ulquiorra Cifer, that didn't give anyone the right to treat him like he was grown. To throw things, that he didn't even recall doing, in his face. Everyone should hold the true Ulquiorra Cifer accountable for his own actions, not this boy.

And to make it all worse, he had no one to go. At the end of the day, he was virtually alone, save for Grimmjow, who didn't seem like one to give much support. No one to tell him it would be alright after he woke from a nightmare. No one there to hold him when he was cold. Not a single soul to ask if he was okay when he was too stubborn to speak up even though something was obviously wrong.

Just when Orihime was positive she was going to burst into tears as her head swarmed with this realization, Uryu knocked on the door frame. She quickly put on a cheerful mask before turning to face her friend standing in the doorway.

"Here," he said, holding out a piece of paper, "This is Ulquiorra's… I think." She smiled and thanked him as he left muttering about needing to ask Ichigo something. Sighing quietly, she closed her door and examined Ulquiorra's picture.

With shaky lines, the arrancar boy had drawn a miniature portrayed of himself at the bottom. Next to the crayon-Ulquiorra was a picture of her. Every detail of her outfit, she noticed, had been captured (even if it was slightly deformed). Then, as if an after thought, scrawled acrossed the top Ulquiorra'd wrote, "My family?"

His small drawing caused her to finally realize what had been tugging at he mind and heart since she'd first encountered Ulquiorra. She cared for this boy. It wasn't the same as how she felt towards her friends, but different. Stronger maybe?

"…nna…" Ulquiorra curled into himself like he had before, his little hands gripping the blankets like a lifeline. Orihime went to his side and sat on the bed. She gently rubbed his back as if to knead out the bad dreams. It seemed that this boy'd become attached to her. Oddly enough, Orihime didn't mind. In fact, she was starting to become attached too.

Yes, Orihime did feel oddly about Ulquiorra, and now she could point a finger at those specific emotions.

It was a mixture of pity... and affection.

* * *

><p>Oh, goodness it's been a while. Life's gotten in the way, so I've kinda been on hiatus... But, I am back now. :)<p>

(And to those who left such helpful feedback a while back, please know that I am trying my best to take what you said into consideration when I write. I am still learning, so I do ask that you bear with me ^^")

Favorites and reviews are greatly appreciated. :) :) :) :)


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